Knights Of Sparta

With a crop of new tanks on the way in the guild I just wanted to share my experience with those who are going to give it a try, and with this comes a BIG warning about the game generally:

Without a doubt - the biggest issue confronting the longivity of WoW I believe is the shortage of tanks, and Blizzards arse about face way of dealing with this.

I am prompted to write this article having been kicked from a Random PUG heroic. Most of my time in this game for the last 5 years has been as tank - those who have been with me from the start will known this to be true. However, I am still, on a very regular basis a 'noob tank', and 'f'ing retard', etc etc

The abuse tanks get in the game is second to none. Far as I'm concerned Huntards get it easy (as do gnomes). Every 9 out of 10 players in this game seems to think DPS rotation is the only thing they need to know about the game. They spam they're biggest hits from the pull, whilst keeping an eye on the DPS meter which they are so desperate to be on top of, and then abuse the tank when they get aggro. It does NOT matter how good a tank you are, this WILL happen to you if you PUG tank.

My latest kick was because when I charged in and the first mob stunned me, whilst the mage went AOE with his first cast. Result he died, I unstunned, gathered aggro, saved the group and we survived. But the abuse started about my tank inadequacy and I was kicked because the mage was the most (unpleasantly) vocal of the group.

So this is my warning. If you are training a tank to join our raids, please be aware that when you PUG you are likely to be abused, and regularly. Do not be disheartened by this. The people abusing you are the 'boobs' I was referring to in the preamble to why I set this guild up.

If you want to play the game properly, good tanking is key. You will find no appreciation for good tanking OUT THERE! WE (KOS) however appreciate it. Have a go at tanking. Be aware of the regular t!ts out there that will abuse you in PUGs, and let it be as water off a ducks back. WE appreciate you,you are central to our raid efforts, and there is no better way as we start to be over subscribed for raids, of assuring you slot in the raid.

Tanks are valuable!

Juggernort

today i received virtually no abuse! (partly because i was running dungeons with Zantry and Wolfrage) but apart from them i must say in those dungeons as wolf and zan will tell you, there are MORE than a few people(i.e mainly druids and dks, who knew?) were more than just idiots they decided that i wasn't a good tank but they were so they would tank for themselves. so this is a warning too:

There are people who wish to make your tanking lives hell dont let them make it that way! WE AS A GUILD AREN'T THE SAME!

Yes Soul - tanking with a couple of guildies in the group is ideal - the support you will get from them will outway the abuse you get from the idiots. The idiots will be a minority and be seen for what they truely are - 'boobs'!

yeah, though at times it seemed like tanking for them was useless, i though of something awesome!

GUILD NEEDS ME = RAID SPOT GUARANTEE!!!

incentive enough children?

Your Signature belies your sentiment there Soul ;-p

need to change it don't i?

Well mate with the guilds encouragement i am staying with Claw as my guild main and tank and as your OP said in the guild environment you can become good at your role and its much more enjoyable aswell as for PuG's ill say this : Anger if tamed = skill so those that say your rubbish or a noob rather than argue as previously said "it's water off a ducks back" but let a little childish streak show and prove to them your as good as tanks get i do it fairly often and as such have little stores of pure focus for tanking as we found out this evening.............


But to Future Tanks,as Tanks we are a team players and as a guild WE ARE THE TEAM! so hold your head high and power on my friends if im on ill farm gear with you either as dps or tanking back up if your say new to Hc's and want that little bit of help but to you all my friends Kudos and i wish you well

Well said Claw, and congratulations to the team last night who did a great job and downed three bosses in a single night, including the infamous Zon'ozz.

well as always it was the usual KoS special, PLUS, we had to do it because we couldn't have a person who's raiding for the first time with us be thrown into the deep end...it wouldn't be right....

#5637491 Soulblaze wrote:

well as always it was the usual KoS special

No, for once we'd have had plenty of time for another try if he hadn't gone down; only reason we stopped there was because it wasn't worth starting trash-clearing if we'd just have to do it again tonight.

I finally feel appreciated

I had many problems in PuGs when I was levelling my tank. It was my first character ever so I didn't really know what was best and all. I had to figure it all out by myself. I had many, many wipes but I never got kicked because if they had kicked me, they had to wait 30 minutes again to find another tank.

Everytime PuGs shouted at me, saying I was a "noob tank", I simply replied to them: "You want me to leave"?
That sentence silenced them all. Everytime.

I have a quote from Wyrm that I'll never forget:

"If the tank dies, it's the healers fault.
If the healer dies, it's the tanks fault.
If the dps dies, it's their own fault."

#5672917 Wreth wrote:

"If the tank dies, it's the healers fault.
If the healer dies, it's the tanks fault.
If the dps dies, it's their own fault."

I did a graphic up for that, I'll have to dig it out and maybe update it

Here's the original (Click to enlarge):

#5673673 Tree wrote:

Here's the original (Click to enlarge):


(For the purposes of this illustration, it is assumed that all group members are present and ready at the pull.)

Nice one!

How do Gnome tanks figure in all of this ?